“Thanks, but I’ll pass.  I’d puke.”

I tried again and managed to move several steps from the van.  The sky rotated and the ground bucked.  My knees shook.  And suddenly I was up in Carlos’ arms.  The abrupt change in prospective did not help my struggle not to heave.  He held me through it all and cradled my head to his chest when I finished.  Then, he ran.

The breeze helped.  I closed my eyes and either slept or passed out.  I wasn’t sure which.

*    *    *    *

“Is she okay?”  Ethan’s raspy, abused voice pulled me from my stupor.

I opened my eyes to blue sky, squinted, and looked around.  Carlos still held me, but we were no longer running.  Nearby, the man who’d helped Ethan stood with Bethi and the ginger.  Their worry pooled around me, trying to drown me.

Ethan walked toward me, his gaze filled with concern.

“She’s fine and wants to be put down,” I said.

Carlos made a noise, something between a grunt and a growl, and bent enough to set my feet on the ground.  With care, he helped me stand.  The little drummer boy was still having fun in my head, and I winced.  Ethan reached out with a steadying hand.

“You should rest,” Carlos said, not taking his eyes from me.

A fleeting look of annoyance crossed over Ethan’s face as he glanced at Carlos.  Then, he focused on me.

“Is it the hit to the head or overload?”  Ethan reached up and ran a gentle hand over the side of my head.  The lump there continued to throb.

“Both, I think.”

“When will they get here?” he asked, looking at Bethi.

He knew what I needed.  I could see the calculation in his eyes.  How much more could I handle?  Not much.  My skin was too tight, and my head wouldn’t feel better any time soon if I didn’t do something about it.

“Soon.  They were just a few—”

A caravan of three vehicles pulled up.  An older woman with white hair and an older man with grey hair rushed out of two of the vehicles.  Both ran to Gabby, who still hung limply in her man’s arms.  In the third vehicle, I saw four people.  A man and woman sat in front, and a younger couple in back.  All of them were looking at Gabby.

“What happened?” the grey-haired man asked.

“I couldn’t kick open the door without help.  She’s not hurt.  Just the opposite.  She’s floating so high, it’ll be awhile before she’s back.  As long as she’s still breathing, she should be fine.”

Ethan and I shared a look.  It was close to the same thing as I’d done to my parents and his father.  Guilt tore at me, and I moved away from Carlos and Ethan.  The man holding Gabby watched me approach.  His emotions continued to spill out, making it hard to get close.

“She’ll be okay.  I promise.”  I gave him a sad smile.  “I accidently did this to my parents a ton of times while growing up.”  I didn’t add that they used recreational drugs now because of it or that I almost killed them countless times.

He gave me a single nod, and some of his chaotic outpouring slowed.  He didn’t put Gabby down, though.

I sniffled and wiped at my nose.  It was already bleeding.

“We need to go,” Ethan said.  The sound of his voice filled me with regret.  He’d been strangled to the point he sounded like a chain smoker; I’d almost had my head bashed in and barely escaped being kidnapped.  What had I gotten us into?

“Clay, put Gabby in the back with you,” the older man said.  The man who’d helped Ethan moved with them.  “Bethi and Luke, there’s room for you, too.”

Clay moved to the vehicle as a man I hadn’t noticed moved around to open a door for him.

“I need to go with Isabelle,” Bethi said.  “She needs to understand what’s happening.”

“No, she doesn’t,” I said.  “She needs to be isolated.”

She glanced at the blood dripping from my nose and nodded.  She and Luke got in.

“You three are with me,” the woman with the white hair said.

Ethan and I walked toward her small car, and Carlos followed closely behind.  Ethan opened the door for me.  He kept casting worried glances at my nose.  My hand was a bloody mess from swiping at it, but the blood wasn’t flowing too hard yet.

As I slid in, the woman got in behind the wheel and passed back some tissues.  I pressed them to my nose and leaned my head back against the seat.

Ethan settled next to me, and the car dipped as Carlos sat in the front seat.  As soon as his door shut, she started forward.  The silence was nice, but her worry wasn’t.  My tight skin and aching head made my empty stomach twist.  The shadows were back in my peripheral.  White dots danced with them.  I focused on them, and they started to lead me away.

An elbow jabbed in my side.  I opened my eyes and turned my head to glare at Ethan.  He arched a brow at me as if saying, “Whatcha gunna do ‘bout it?”  Right now?  Nothing.  But later...I closed my eyes.  Two seconds after I started to follow the shadows and lights, he elbowed me again.

“Boy, you touch her again, and I’ll rip your arm off,” Carlos said softly.

My eyes popped open, and I lifted my head.  Carlos was still facing forward.  The woman had her hand on his leg.  It wasn’t a sexy touch.  It was a keep-your-butt-in-your-seat touch.  Who did he think he was?  I’d like to see him try to lay a finger on Ethan.  I narrowed my eyes on Carlos.

“How are you doing, dear?” the woman asked.

I met her eyes in the rearview mirror.

“Not good.  How much longer?”

She was quiet for a few minutes.  “There are too many in this town.  We need to keep driving for a while to confuse our scent trail.”

Ethan lifted my hand and gently squeezed it.  “You’ve got an hour to get us somewhere reasonably safe.  She needs at least thirty minutes when we stop.”

I set my head back against the seat.  He wanted me to hold this in for an hour and then was only giving me thirty minutes to exercise it?

“I’ll kill you.”

His hand gave another squeeze.  He knew what he was in for.  A tear leaked from my eye.

*    *    *    *

“This is good enough,” Ethan said, pulling me back from the edge yet again.  “Stop the car.”

The urgency in his voice didn’t leak through his emotions at all.  Or maybe it did, and I didn’t notice.  The human sponge was full.  So full, she was ready to explode.

He removed his hand from my face—when had he taken over holding the tissue to my nose?—and gently pulled me from the car.

My legs didn’t want to support me.  If not for Ethan’s arms locked around me, I would have fallen.

“Tell them to drive ahead.  She needs everyone to stay back for a while.  The bleeding has to stop.”

While he spoke, he dragged me.  My heels bumped along the ground for several yards, then he stopped.

“Z, stand up now, or I drop you,” he barked in my ear.

That annoying, little—

He dropped me, but caught me again.  The panic of thinking he’d actually let me go, gave me an adrenaline boost.

“Ass,” I whispered.

“What are you going to do about it?  Come on, stand up.”

He jostled me, purposely annoying me.  I yanked an arm free and swatted at him.  He laughed and jostled me again.

I pushed back against him and found my own footing.  Stance wide for balance, I stood there with my head hanging down.  My skull pounded, and for a moment, the slight sounds of nature around us seemed as if they were under water.

“Poor little Izzie,” Ethan said in a singsong voice.

He tapped my arm.  I swung out at him, wide and loose, and he easily stepped out of the way.

“That’s it?  All you have is noodle arms?”

I didn’t even have that.  Tired and ready to let myself fall to the ground, I exhaled.

“No, Z.”

A slap cracked against my right cheek, the one Brick had bruised.  Rage ignited in me.  Ethan.  My eyes popped open at the same time a roar echoed in the air around us.

Ethan’s eyes were wide.  They should be.  Then, I noticed his focus wasn’t on me, but over my shoulder.  I twisted and saw the mountain explode into a beast.  It was just like the fight in the bar.  One minute he was a man, the next a gigantic dog.  Only, this time, we were in a field and there was no one else around.